Hello. Thank you for listening to us.
My name is Suzie Durochers-Hendriks and I am an assistant professor at the Edmundston campus of the Université de Moncton.
In 2014, 100% of students at our campus passed the entry-into-practice exam. In 2015, the pass rate was 30%, even though the students had taken exactly the same training program.
My colleague Mr. Godbout noted that our program has nonetheless been approved for seven years by the CASN and for five years by the NANB. In both cases, this is the maximum approval period possible.
After taking their training entirely in French, our students have no choice but to purchase material in English, and that in an officially bilingual province.
Several media reports partially blamed the Université de Moncton program for the francophones students' failing the NCLEX-RN exam. The number of students registered at the Edmundston campus has decreased since then. This year, we have just 12 new students. In the past, we typically had from 25 to 35 new students, and have had as many as 60.
The francophones of northwestern New Brunswick are primarily unilingual and have very limited skills in English. Attending a French-language program and then having to prepare for an exam using resources that are in entirely English runs counter to everything we know about educational methods. Our students say they spend as much time trying to understand the English as they do the content of the practical questions.
This threatens the French-language health services available to our patients, their families and our communities, in northwestern New Brunswick in particular. There is also an emotional impact on our students who cannot pass the exam.